Refrigerating apparatus



June 22, 1943. c. H. WURTZ REFRIGERATING APPARATUS Filed Oct. 24, 1940 WW. Q. N L a J Patented June 22, 1943 REFRIGERATIN G APPARATUS Clifford H. Wurtz, Dayton, Ohio, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, a corporation of Delaware Application October 24, 1940, Serial No. 362,628

3 Claims.

This invention relates to cabinet structures and particularly to the construction of a refrigerator cabinet.

An object of my invention is to provide an improved method of and structure for supportin a liner member which forms walls of a food storage compartment within a refrigerator cabinet, from the outer Walls of the cabinet.

Another object of my invention is to provide supporting means for a food storage compartment liner member of a refrigerator cabinet which serves as a guiding and locating means for the liner during the act of assembling the liner member into the cabinet.

Another object of my invention is to provide a support for a food storage compartment wallforming member within a refrigerator cabinet which support will not interfere with the extension of insulating material. continuously from the front to the back wall of the cabinet in order that the food storage compartment throat or access opening wall portion may be more effectively insulated.

A further object of my invention is to provide a frameless refrigerator cabinet and to support the food storage compartment forming member from walls of the cabinet by means, in addition to the walls of the access opening of the compartment, which means eliminates the necessity of providing holes in walls of the compartment and is concealed from view within the compartment. In carrying out the foregoing objects, it is a still further object of my invention to provide means for rigidly supporting a food storage compartment liner in a centralized position within walls of a refrigerator cabinet which means is in the form of four metal members secured to the back wall of the cabinet and extending along side walls of the compartment to a point adjacent the front edge thereof Where attachment thereto 7 is concealed in a novel manner.

Incident to the objects set forth above, numerous other more specific objects and advantages of my invention will become apparent from the following description, reference being had to the accompanying drawing wherein; Fig. 1 is a front view of a refrigerator cabinet having my invention embodied therein and showing the food storage compartment door in open position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1, showing the attachment of a food storage compartment liner support to the liner and to a cabinet wall;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary sectional view' ofthe compartment liner support taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2, with the insulating material removed; and

Fig. 4 is a vertical fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Fig. 2 showing the concealment of the attachment of the liner support to the liner.

Referring to the drawing, for purposes of illustration, I have shown in Fig. 1 thereof, a refrigerating apparatus comprising a frameless refrigerator cabinet construction of the household type, generally represented by the reference character Ill. The cabinet I0 includes a one-piece metal member II forming the front and two side walls thereof and a metal member I2 (see Fig. 2) forming the cabinet back wall. Cabinet back wall I2 is welded or otherwise suitably secured to inturned edge portions of the one-piece member I I. A metallic liner member I4 is disposed within the outer walls of the cabinet and forms walls of a food storage compartment I5 therein. The front wall member II of cabinet II], has an aperture therein bounded by an inwardly bent portion l6. Liner member I4 has an aperture therein bounded by a flange portion IT. The aperture in member II and the aperture in member I4 register with one another to provide an access opening to the food storage compartment I5. A flat wide rigid insulating element I8 overlaps the bent ed e or flange portions I6 and H, of members II and I4 respectively, and screws 2| and 22 pass through element I8 and are threaded into the bent edge portions I6 and H to secure the element I8 in position to cause same to form a wall of the food compartment, access opening. Any suitable or desirable soft insulating material 24 is disposed in the space between member I5 and Walls I I and I2. An insulated door structure 25 is pivotally mounted upon cabinet I0 and normally closes the food storage compartment access opening. Food storage compartment I5 has conventional food supporting shelves disposed therein and a cooling element 26, such as an evaporator of a closed refrigerant circulating system or circuit, is mounted in the compartment. The refrigerant liquefying and circulating unit (not shown) of the refrigeratin system or circuit and which is connected to the evaporator 26, is usually mounted in the machine compartment located below the food storage compartment I5 of cabinet I0. I

Since the food compartment access opening wall forming element I 8 is primarily a decorative element for the compartment throat and serves to break the metal-to-metal contact between the the liner member |d inwardly of the edge portions thereof adjacent the aperture therein. It is also preferable to provide such a support that is attached to the back wall |2 of cabinet Hi so as to avoid damaging the porcelain coated front and side walls of the cabinet. I, therefore, contemplate the provision of a support for the liner member M, in addition to the compartment access opening wall forming element, which is not only concealed but which also facilitates the assembly of the liner member into the cabinet by serving as a guiding means for locating the liner member in proper spacedrelation to the cabinet outer walls.

In the present disclosure, the food storage compartment forming member or liner I4 is supported within cabinet It by supporting devices generally represented by the reference character 3|. Two of these devices are located in vertically spaced apart relation on each side of the member l4 and extend horizontally from the front to the back thereof. Each device 3| comprises a metal member approximately 1 /2 inches wide and having, intermediate its ends, outwardly bent edge portions 32 that provide a substantially U-shaped member in cross sectional contour. One end portion 33 of each member or device 3 I, is bent substantially at right angles to the extension thereof and is provided with two holes, extruded as at 34, and tapped to receive screws or the like 36. A felt or the like material washer 3! is disposed between the end portion 33 of each member or device 3| and the back wall I 2 of cabinet it]. The screws 36 pass through suitable openings provided in the cabinet back wall I2 and are threaded .into the tapped extruded holes of the members or devices 3| to rigidly attach or secure the end portion 33 thereof to the back wall l2. A portion of each member or device 3|, adjacent its end portion 33, is provided with a plurality of punched out holes 39 disposed closely adjacent one another.- This perforated portion of the members or devices 3| together with the insulating washer 31, serves to minimize heat transfer between the devices 3| and the back wall of cabinet [0. The other or front end portion 4| of each device 3!, is bent at an angle corresponding to the angle of the flange portion H of liner member |4 adjacent the aperture therein. This end portion 4| of each device 3|, is provided with two holes, extruded, as at 42, and tapped to receive screw or the like 43. Flange portion H, of liner member M, is provided with short depressed parts 414 (see Fig. 4) for receiving the heads of screws 43 so that these screw heads will not interfere with abutment of wall element It against flange portion H of member 14. The screws 43 pass through suitable openings provided in the flange I! of liner l4 and are threaded into the extruded tapped holes of the end portion 4| of devices 3|. Screws 43 rigidly secure or attach the devices 3| to the liner member M, at the aperture therein, and these screws 53 are concealed by the food compartment access opening wall-forming element I8. Thus devices 3| are rigidly secured in position to support the weight of the compartment forming member M from the cabinet back wall l2 and an intermediate portion of these device 3| bears against the side member M to prevent movement thereof relative to walls 01' the refrigerator cabinet H1. It will be noted that the metal member 3| serve or form rigid cantilever-like reinforcing devices wherein the one end 33 of each device is secured to the cabinet back wall l2 and the other or free end 4| thereof is attached to the flanged portion I"! of liner [4. A flat soft paper or felt element 46 is disposed between each device or member 3| and the member I4, to break the metal-to-metal contact therebetween at the intermediate part of the devices 3| which extends horizontally along and bears against a side wall of the food compartment.

In assembling parts of the refrigerator cabinet |0, the insulating material 24 is first placed within the walls H and I2 adjacent the inner surfaces thereof and then the one end portion 33 of supporting members or devices 3| are attached by screws 36 to the cabinet back wall [2. The liner member I4 is placed within walls of cabinet l0 through the aperture in the front wall thereof and the portion of the four devices 3|, intermediate the ends thereof, serve as strap-like members to guide the liner M horizontally into it proper centralized location within the cabinet. After properly locating liner member l4 within the outer walls of cabinet Hi, with the apertures therein registering with one another, th screws 43 are extended through openings in the flange portion H, of member I4, and are threaded into the end portion 4| of devices 3|. Thereafter the compartment access opening wall-forming element I8, is attached by the screws 22 to the flange portion ll, of liner member l4, and by the screws 2| to the edge portion N5 of cabinet wall member I.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that my improved method of or device for supporting the food storage compartment wall-forming member from the cabinet walls, eliminates the heavy wood frame which ordinarily surrounds the wall of the food compartment access opening and permits the extension of insulating material continuously from the front to the back walls of the refrigerator cabinet. My improved compartment wall-forming member supporting devices are disposed within the insulated wall structure of the cabinet and are not only themselves concealed but the attachment thereof to the member is also concealed by a standard part of the re-v frigerator construction. The compartment forming member cantilever-like supporting devices of the present disclosure eliminates the necessity of providing holes in walls of the food compartment for attachment thereto of supporting devices and this obviates the necessity of sealing such holes and alsopermits the walls of the compartment to remain smooth, Lmobstructed and neat in appearance.

While the form of embodiment of the inven tion as herein disclosed, constitutes a preferred form, it is to be understood that other forms might be adopted, all coming within the scope of the claims which follow.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. A refrigerator construction ccmprisingin combination, a frameless cabinet having metallic outer walls and an inner metallic member spaced from saidouter walls and forming walls of a food storage compartment within said cabinet, an outer wall of said cabinet having an aperture therein, said compartment wall-forming member having an aperture therein registering with the aperture in said cabinet outer wall and providing an access opening for said food compartment, an element secured to and overlapping the edge of said cabinet outer wall at the aperture therein, said element also being secured to and overlapping the edge of said compartment wall-forming member at the aperture therein to form a wall for said compartment access opening, insulating material in the space between said compartment wall-forming member and said cabinet outer walls, and rigid cantilever reinforcing devices for supporting said compartment wall-forming mem ber within said cabinet, said rigid devices extending along and bearing against opposite sides of said compartment wall-forming member, one end of each rigid device being secured to the cabinet outer Wall opposed to the apertured wall thereof and the free end of each of said cantilever devices being attached to the edge portion of said compartment wall-forming member adjacent the aperture therein.

2. A refrigerator construction comprising in combination, a frameless cabinet having metallic outer Walls and an inner metallic member spaced from said outer walls and forming walls of a food storage compartment within said cabinet, an outer wall of said cabinet having an aperture therein, said compartment wall-forming member having an aperture therein registering with the aperture in said cabinet outer wall and providing an access opening for said food compartment, an element secured to and overlapping the edge of said cabinet outer wall at the aperture therein, said element also being secured to and overlapping the edge of said compartment wall-forming member at the aperture therein to form a wall for said compartment access opening, insulating material in the space between said compartment wall-forming member and said cabinet outer walls, rigid metallic cantilever reinforcing devices for supporting said compartment wall-forming member within said cabinet, said rigid metallic devices extending along and bearing against opposite sides of said compartment wall-forming member, one end of each rigid metallic device being secured to the cabinet outer wall opposed to the apertured wall thereof and the free end of each of said cantilever devices being attached to the edge portion of said compartment wallforming member adjacent the aperture therein, and the portion of each of said cantilever devices lying between the compartment wall and said opposed cabinet wall being reticulated to reduce heat conductivity between said walls.

3. A refrigerator construction comprising in combination, a frameless cabinet having metallic outer walls and an inner metallic member spaced from said outer walls and forming walls of a food storage compartment within said cabinet, an outer wall of said cabinet having an aperture therein, said compartment wall-forming member having an aperture therein registering with the aperture in said cabinet outer wall and providing an access opening for said food compartment, an element secured to and overlapping the edge of said cabinet outer wall at the aperture therein, said element also being secured to and overlapping the edge of said compartment wall-forming member at the aperture therein to form a wall for said compartment access opening, insulating material in the space between said compartment wall-forming member and said cabinet outer walls, rigid cantilever reinforcing devices for supporting said compartment wall-forming member within said cabinet, said rigid devices extending along and bearing against opposite sides of said compartment wall-forming member, one end of each rigid device being secured to the cabinet outer wall opposed to the apertured wall thereof and the free end of each of said cantilever devices being attached to the edge portion of said compartment wall-forming member adjacent the aperture therein, and said portion of said cantilever devices extending along the sides of said compartment wall-forming member providing guide means therefor during the act of inserting same into said cabinet through the aperture in its outer wall.

CLIFFORD H. WURTZ. 

